[outdated] Caustic Arrow Solo Map MFer (20/300+)

Amazing stuff, I really like this build!

Probably the best build to play untwinked/first char. OP as shit :D

Serleth, I just wanted to say thank you for the time and effort you put into not only the guide, but sticking around and helping almost every one of us out when we felt stuck or confused, or when someone (myself included) was just too damn lazy to read the guide for ourselves.

I quit poe in frustration in 2013, but you made my return not only painless, but incredibly fun and rewarding as well. I've fallen back in love with PoE and I have you and your guide to thank, so seriously, thank you so much.

"

Blah wrote:

Probably the best build to play untwinked/first char. OP as shit :D

Agree 100%. Killer build and guide for a new league or even first play through.

corrupted this last night. :) this build is working so good.

Thx Serleth, the build is great, effective an ejoyable, also huge props to you answering so many questions here.

Going well until now for me +3 bow, 2 x andvarius etc.

Spamming low maps currently and its good income.

One thing that annoys me though is the insane downtime spent IDing rares in town, it becomes frustrating after a while. First world problems =)

Already picked up only about half of rares that dropped, think i will cut that down to just the best bases and small items.

Do you pick up almost everything Serleth?

I am selling in Warbands if anyone wants to buy. I probably not gonna have much time to play in next couple months so MF not really option for me anymore. Lemme know.

Happy hunting!

It´s good to take Acrobatics?...because...we have 30% less Block chance spell and attacks

ACROBATICS

30% Chance to Dodge Attacks
50% less Armour and Energy Shield
30% less Block chance spell and attacks

I wanted to share my thoughts on this build along with a few minor tweaks I made and get your, as well as other players feedback. Again, Serleth, thank you for sharing this build.

From the ground up I went a different way with the bow. I found a 5 link, which was like Item level 57, so getting +2 was not an option. I instead focused on getting Paragon's +1 Gems. It took me roughly 80 or so alterations. Once I hit it I bought an Empower gem. At this point I feel +1 is actually better than +2 since you get +1 to all gems, which due to Empower, makes PA +2. Since it's 5 linked, I Auged it, Regaled it, and then put Leo's mod on it. This bow will serve me just fine until I get a +3. Just a thought there for people who are in a similar position to what I was, or perhaps a different approach to the bow progression all together.

Gem Setup
So I went a little different with the order of gems for PA. I opted to use Item Rarity over Increased Area of Effect. I know, the Cloud is horrible small and its a PITA to use right?.. Not really. First practice makes perfect. The more you run it like this the better you get at it. Second, This makes getting the Pierce nodes even without a Drillneck worth the skill points. (Each pierce creates a cloud.) So you shot beyond packs and hope for multi pierces. Lastly the more loot you gain for 50%+ Item Rarity is not unlike having a Andvarius ring. Thoughts on this?

Also a Perandus Blazon is a great belt early game, for its 8% Quantity, and its very cheap. Not viable end game I know, but just throwing it out there.


Passives

So I decided to get Primal Spirit, and Druidic Rite. I got them early and I have 0 regrets. Those two along with Herbalism give you an amazing flask buff. So much so you can nearly have perma- Jade flasks going, as well as a perma-Quicksilver (Ample of Adrenaline). Pop Jade and kill a pack while running, Jade is good to go again. Also those two notables have a bonus of Mana, Mana Regen, and Intelligence. I actually spec'ed out of Soul Siphon as it wasn't needed. I've tested this with Inc AoE as the 5 link as well. As long as you keep up on Rallying Cry mana is a non-issue, even with spamming PA and your curse. This is with Clarity lvl 10, Purity of Elements, and Purity of Ice, in terms of mana reservation.

Scion area - So I opted when finishing all my pathing to go with the three resistances nodes in the Scion Jewel area instead of the 8% projectile damage. I feel the gain you get from resistances far outweighs the marginal increase in damage. Perhaps I will spec out of this late game, but for now its much easier on meeting resistance caps.

I know both these options increase the total number of passives needed for the build. However, until you find jewels that are worth investing a point into jewel socket I feel this is the way to go.

Skill Gems

This option has been mentioned in this post and elsewhere but I want to reiterate on it as I am surprised it's not included in the core build. This build is not skill gem hungry at all which is great. You can add things to the build, such as;

Vaal Lightning Trap

I've seen many posts stating "this boss is hard, or I'm having trouble with this map boss, etc"

Vaal Lightning Trap has 100% chance to shock. Shocked enemies take 50% more damage. Seriously this thing is a boss killer. It's great for those tanky rares like Knitted Terrors or whatever they're called. The trap doesn't kill the mobs, just applies Shock, so you still get the Item rarity bonus from your main skill. If you guys are having issues with tough mobs, this is your ticket.

Vaal Lightning Trap + Increased Duration + GMP + whatever using Blood Rage myself.


Ok Now questions for you Serleth.

I am doing ok on currency, got one Andvarius so far, but things aren't going as fast as I'd hoped. I've been pretty much doing a rotation on Dominus, Voll, and the Trio in Daresso's dream for drops. Vendor for alts/+2 Chaos recipe, convert to chaos, then to exalts. Do you recommended just doing maps instead?

*edited* dawned on me what you were saying, I'm a moron. *edited*


Anyway thank you again for this build its amazing. Sorry for such a long-winded post, that's just how I roll.

"

Selky62 wrote:

Serleth, I just wanted to say thank you for the time and effort you put into not only the guide, but sticking around and helping almost every one of us out when we felt stuck or confused, or when someone (myself included) was just too damn lazy to read the guide for ourselves.

I quit poe in frustration in 2013, but you made my return not only painless, but incredibly fun and rewarding as well. I've fallen back in love with PoE and I have you and your guide to thank, so seriously, thank you so much.

"

Anelit wrote:

Thx Serleth, the build is great, effective an ejoyable, also huge props to you answering so many questions here.

Thank you both (and everyone else) for your kind words. It's lovely to see so many people that are enjoying the build.

I remember when I first started playing PoE in Open Beta and up until about patch 1.1 I was struggling so hard with being able to afford rerolls for my characters. It would take me literally weeks to get so much as one character even remotely built and pushed to level 75 because I would have problems being able to afford any upgrades.

Then by patch 1.1 I took a long hard look at what I wanted out of the game. I didn't want to sit in trade chat for days flipping, I didn't want to try find good dom cull groups, and I hated party MFing because my computer would sometimes freak out of there were too many spells being cast on the screen at once. So I needed a solo build that would be able to run maps efficiently and get my currency base up and running, otherwise the growing frustration I was feeling at not being able to progress characters was going to get me to quit.

So the Flameblast MF build was made. And then this came out of the change to Proliferation.

So it means a lot to me that you all are taking the time to ask questions, provide feedback, and provide these words of encouragement to let me know that this is working well for you all. Thank you.

"

One thing that annoys me though is the insane downtime spent IDing rares in town, it becomes frustrating after a while. First world problems =)

Already picked up only about half of rares that dropped, think i will cut that down to just the best bases and small items.

Do you pick up almost everything Serleth?

For the first four portals of a map, yes. For the last two, I only pick up smaller bases (1x3, 2x3, 2x2, accessories), avoiding 2h'ers and large shields.

As for the id time in town, you'll eventually learn how to scan items quickly for good prefix/suffix rolls so that you know what's trash and what's not in a very short amount of time. If you're not familiar with these already, I suggest taking a look at poeaffix.net.

A large portion of this build's money-making is from the alteration shards from vendoring. So, I do recommend making the town trips, at least until you have a solid enough currency base where you feel like it's irrelevant to you at that point.

Small tip for players (I think most know this but I run into a few that don't, so I'll mention it): you can right click your wisdom stack, and then shift-click the items to identify them really quickly.

"

It´s good to take Acrobatics?...because...we have 30% less Block chance spell and attacks

Yes. We don't really block anyway. Unless you decide to use Rearguard instead of Drillneck, then take Iron Reflexes.

"

TirpitzLuminare wrote:

At this point I feel +1 is actually better than +2 since you get +1 to all gems, which due to Empower, makes PA +2.

With Empower level 1, it's the exact same difference. The only significant advantage a +0/+1 bow gives you over a +2/+0 bow is if you have an Empower 2. You got lucky on your Paragon roll, btw (gratz). On average it should take you closer to 240 alts. That's the reason why I suggest rolling +2 instead (avg 60-120 alts).

"

I opted to use Item Rarity over Increased Area of Effect. Lastly the more loot you gain for 50%+ Item Rarity is not unlike having a Andvarius ring. Thoughts on this?

I recommend the AoE gem mostly to make sure that less mechanical players don't have to struggle as much with firing off PA shots more accurately, and the net increase in clear speed is worthwhile for pushing levels faster. But yes, it's player discretion if you'd rather MF more earlier.

"

So I decided to get Primal Spirit, and Druidic Rite. I got them early and I have 0 regrets. Those two along with Herbalism give you an amazing flask buff. So much so you can nearly have perma- Jade flasks going, as well as a perma-Quicksilver (Ample of Adrenaline). Pop Jade and kill a pack while running, Jade is good to go again. Also those two notables have a bonus of Mana, Mana Regen, and Intelligence. I actually spec'ed out of Soul Siphon as it wasn't needed. I've tested this with Inc AoE as the 5 link as well. As long as you keep up on Rallying Cry mana is a non-issue, even with spamming PA and your curse. This is with Clarity lvl 10, Purity of Elements, and Purity of Ice, in terms of mana reservation.

Scion area - So I opted when finishing all my pathing to go with the three resistances nodes in the Scion Jewel area instead of the 8% projectile damage. I feel the gain you get from resistances far outweighs the marginal increase in damage. Perhaps I will spec out of this late game, but for now its much easier on meeting resistance caps.

As for Druidic rite, I generally disagree with taking flask nodes when you can roll your Jade or Granite flask to be Ample of Warding, and then use a "reduced flask charges used" belt once you have your res balances adjusted. It saves two points, although with the way you did it (removing Soul Siphon), it's fine, and I can get behind that decision as a playstyle preference in conjunction with Rallying Cry. RC is something I'm still experimenting with as a playstyle thing for my own character, though I've never liked trying to time my Warcry use while I'm busy killing maps. Silly CWDT change. ;)

As for Scion area: yes, I recommend doing exactly what you've done until you have resistances covered and can make the switch from the resistance branch to the damage branch.

"

Vaal Lightning Trap has 100% chance to shock. Shocked enemies take 50% more damage. Seriously this thing is a boss killer. It's great for those tanky rares like Knitted Terrors or whatever they're called. The trap doesn't kill the mobs, just applies Shock, so you still get the Item rarity bonus from your main skill. If you guys are having issues with tough mobs, this is your ticket.

The central reason I'm questioning including this comes down to just straight up hotkey use.

Mouse Buttons: force move, flame golem, Flame Totem cull / Rallying Cry
Keyboard: Curse (CoH or manual), Blink Arrow, Blood Rage, Poison Arrow, Portal

Everything's taken. The flame golem dies so often it virtually needs its own hotkey.

But, what I'm thinking of doing to adjust and include VLT in my structure is put Flame Golem onto a higher level CWDT so it auto-refreshes itself, and then tossing VLT in the hotkey slot that it's been consuming.

There's a surprising amount of tweaks to consider here, thanks to all the suggestions from everyone that I'm still trying to find an optimal balance in gem usage!

Thanks for your detailed feedback Tirpitz, much appreciated! I hope I've covered everything and I look forward to your response.

P.S. also sorry for the essay.